Chickens And China

I had to go to Publix today because I was out of everything from milk to cornmeal. I made a supper last night out of the garden and the freezer and it was absolutely one of the best meals ever. I cooked some field peas I had in the freezer with onions and the good parts of tomatoes that the bugs had gotten to, chopped up, and corn bread with corn cut from the cob in it and the best- the very best- fried green tomatoes.
But I did not fry them.
Instead I soaked the slices in milk and then dredged them in a mixture of flour and panko with salt and pepper and laid them carefully on a cookie sheet sprayed heavily with Pam and sprayed the tops and put them in a hot oven with the cornbread and they came out wonderfully well. If you've never eaten a fried green tomato, I will tell you that they taste something like fruit, almost a plummy taste and feel in the mouth, but not as sweet. A savory fruit with a luscious crust on it so that the teeth break through to that sweet inner part and it all explodes in your mouth and well...it's something good. Trust me.
And not frying them meant that there was no grease involved. Don't get me wrong. I do love a fried green tomato but these may have been even better.

But back to the grocery list. I was out of buttermilk and bananas. One cannot get along without bananas. Well, one could, but I don't want to. And I can't make pancakes or biscuits or cornbread without buttermilk. So I had to go to the store and since I was going to town I thought I'd go to Goodwill to see if the dishes I saw there last week were still there.
They were of a pattern very much like a pattern of a few dishes I already have. You have to understand- none of my "china" matches. Well. A plate here, a cup there. But mostly, it's all just Goodwill and thrift store stuff which has struck my fancy over the years. And it serves us well.
And I did not buy these plates and dishes when I saw them last week. Goodwill has gone crazy with their prices and the plates were $5.99 apiece! But I kept thinking about them and I determined to go back yesterday when it was Senior Citizen day to get my 20% off if they were still there but of course I had the boys yesterday and didn't make it to town.

When I got there today, some of the plates and the lovely serving platter were gone and also the pretty little sugar bowl and creamer. But I bought what they had- a few dinner plates, a few salad plates, some soup bowls. I brought them home and washed them and looked them up on the internet and dammit, I should have bought them all when I had the chance. The serving platter alone costs $84.95 to replace on a site which sells Johnson Brothers. I discovered they are the pattern Apple Blossom and they are from around 1949. None of them are cracked or chipped, they look like new.
But I have a question- does anyone know what the little green marks on the bottom of Johnson Brothers china means? It looks like this and is on all of the vintage Johnson Brothers I own:

Please let me know if you have any information on this. I'm just curious.

When I drove into Publix, Lily and Jason were pulling out and I said, "Oh, please stop and let me see that boy!" Or, maybe it was more like, "Pull over! I need to see Owen!"

Whatever.

They pulled over and I parked next to them and opened Owen's door and oh! the smile he gave me! I melted. I am still there in a puddle in the parking lot of Publix. I kissed him and got lipstick all over him and crooned and said, "Are you glad to see your grandmother?" and he said he was and then I said, "Oh no. The problem with saying hello is that I am going to have to say good-bye."
It took a while.
I thought that Lily and Jason were going to forcibly remove me so that they could leave, but they are sweet and tolerant of the insane passion I have for their son and didn't do anything but make throat-clearing noises as I love-talked to Owen.

I got all my groceries, for once remembering not only to make a list but to actually bring it with me which rarely happens. I came home and put everything away and got the laundry off the line which had been rained upon, dammit, and put it in the dryer.
And then, I happened to look outside my kitchen door to see Elvis on the little kitchen porch. Now, neither El nor any of the ladies have ever, as far as I know, been up on that porch but there was Elvis and little Miss Betty was right beside him. He was acting so strangely. He was hunkered down on the boards almost as if he were, ahem, having the sex, but there was nothing under him but the floor. And he was making this tick-tick-tick sound in his throat and so was Betty. I have never heard this particular sound coming from my chickens before.

I went to get the camera and when I opened the door, he got up and I took some shots of them:


Elvis by now was up in my gardenia plant, doing the same weird ticking thing and nestling down on it.


He was almost in a trance and I could pet him. Same with Betty who kept fussing around Elvis, almost as if she was worried about him.

I didn't want him tearing my flowers up so I shooed them off the porch but they kept coming back. He even came back with Miss Daffodil:

I could not figure it out until I went out a bit later to see Betty hunkered down in my begonia. She had it partly torn up and I threw a tiny bit of water on her so that she jumped out of the pot and onto the ground and then I watered all the porch plants vigorously to show them that no, this was NOT a nesting place.

Because I think that's what they were doing. Elvis was looking for a new nest for his hens, perhaps because of the snake.

I say this because a few days ago, Mr. Moon had put Carol's nest outside of the garage where it stays and he told me that Elvis had gotten in the box where the nest is and fluffed all down in it, describing what I think I saw today. Same sort of behavior. And since then, I have been finding eggs which Carol has not laid (she lays brown and these are green) in it, even though it's back in the garage.

I find this fascinating. My neighbor who has about one gozillion chickens has just started learning about them on an educated level. She told me that she had read that roosters make a different warning sound if a predator threat is on the ground or in the air. She was amazed by this fact but I was not because I have been watching these birds closely for a year now and I see how well they take care of each other, how the rooster plays a role in the care-taking of the hens. So to think that Elvis would seek out new places for his sister-wives to lay their eggs does not surprise me.

But I really don't want them laying in my begonia. Or my gardenia for that matter. Or up on the porch at all because they will poop and poop in the hen house is one thing, poop in the yard is another, and poop on the porch is just TOO MUCH!

Well. It's getting dark. The chickens are circling the hen house, going in one-by-one. I cleaned out their nests a few hours ago and there was no snake in there then. I need to go out and shut them up for the night.

Mr. Moon is in town playing cards and I picked a nice Ichiban eggplant from the garden and I think I'll saute it with some tomatoes and garlic and an onion and basil and cook a bit of a pasta for my supper and I'll eat it on one of my new plates.

Another day of life in Lloyd and it was a good one. Jessie went to yoga with me, I took a walk, I went to town and bought groceries and new china. I have food from the garden to eat. And I finally, FINALLY finished listening to Everything Is Illuminated on tape by Jonathon Safran Foer. Jesus. Have any of y'all read this book? Did you like it? I guarantee you that if I had been actually reading it with my eyes I never would have finished it. His style grew weary to me after about a thousand hours. But I did it. I finished it.
And I'm reading an Amy Bloom book which I have already laying on the bed waiting for me.

Life is good. On this, the most personal and selfish level, at least. And I am profoundly and thoroughly grateful for that.

I wish you all sweet dreams and let me tell you something- being back on the Lexapro has brought me those gorgeous, luscious dreams again and I can't help but wonder what a Shaman would say about that.

I have so many questions and so few answers.
And that's okay.